1997 Phoenix Mercury season

The 1997 WNBA season was the first for the Phoenix Mercury.

1997 Phoenix Mercury season
CoachCheryl Miller
ArenaAmerica West Arena
Attendance13,703 per game
Results
Record16–12 (.571)
Place1st (Western)
Playoff finishLost WNBA Semifinals

Transactions

WNBA allocation draft
Player Nationality School/Team/Country
Jennifer Gillom  United States Ole Miss
Michele Timms  Australia WTV Wuppertal (Germany)

WNBA elite draft
See also: WNBA elite draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 7 Bridget Pettis  United States Florida
2 15 Nancy Lieberman-Cline  United States Old Dominion

WNBA draft
See also: 1997 WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country
1 8 Toni Foster  United States Iowa
2 9 Tia Jackson  United States Iowa
3 24 Umeki Webb  United States NC State
4 25 Monique Ambers  United States Arizona State

Transactions
Date Transaction
January 22, 1997 Drafted Jennifer Gillom and Michele Timms in the 1997 WNBA Allocation Draft[1]
January 27, 1997 Hired Cheryl Miller as Head Coach[1]
February 27, 1997 Drafted Bridget Pettis and Nancy Lieberman-Cline in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft[1]
April 28, 1997 Drafted Toni Foster, Tia Jackson, Umeki Webb and Monique Ambers in the 1997 WNBA Draft[1]
May 22, 1997 Signed Marlies Askamp and Tara Williams[1]
June 20, 1997 Waived Ryneldi Becenti[1]
July 22, 1997 Waived Molly Tuter[1]
Signed Ryneldi Becenti[1]
July 31, 1997 Traded future considerations to the Sacramento Monarchs in exchange for Mikiko Hagiwara[1]

Roster
1997 Phoenix Mercury roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFromYrs
F 42 Ambers, Monique 6' 4" (1.93m) – 1970-12-21 Arizona State R
C 14 Askamp, Marlies 6' 5" (1.96m) 198 lb (90kg) 1970-07-08 R
G 4 Becenti, Ryneldi 5' 6" (1.68m) – 1971-08-11 Arizona State R
F/C 0 Foster, Toni 6' 1" (1.85m) 175 lb (79kg) 1971-11-16 Iowa R
F/C 22 Gillom, Jennifer 6' 3" (1.91m) 180 lb (82kg) 1964-06-13 Mississippi R
G 24 Hagiwara, Mikiko 5' 9" (1.75m) 160 lb (73kg) 1970-04-27 R
F 3 Jackson, Tia 6' 0" (1.83m) 148 lb (67kg) 1972-04-21 Iowa R
G 10 Lieberman-Cline, Nancy 5' 10" (1.78m) 150 lb (68kg) 1958-07-01 Old Dominion R
G 32 Pettis, Bridget 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) 1971-01-01 Florida R
G 7 Timms, Michele 5' 7" (1.7m) 132 lb (60kg) 1965-06-28 R
G 24 Tuter, Molly  – – 1975-08-25 Arizona State R
G/F 21 Webb, Umeki 5' 10" (1.78m) 162 lb (73kg) 1975-06-26 NC State R
G 31 Williams, Tara 5' 11" (1.8m) 170 lb (77kg) 1974-07-23 Auburn R
Head coach
Cheryl Miller (USC)
Assistant coaches
-



Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Schedule

Regular season
1997 game log
Total: 16–12 (Home: 11–3; Road: 5–9)
June: 2–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1 June 22 Charlotte W 76–59 Bridget Pettis (17) Toni Foster (8) Michele Timms (6) America West Arena 1–0
2 June 24 @ Houston L 55–72 Toni Foster (13) Askamp
Foster
Webb (5)		 Umeki Webb (4) The Summit 1–1
3 June 26 @ Cleveland W 68–63 Gillom
Pettis (14)		 Foster
Webb (7)		 Michele Timms (4) Gund Arena 2–1
4 June 29 @ New York L 57–65 Jennifer Gillom (23) Gillom
Webb (10)		 Michele Timms (5) Madison Square Garden 2–2
July: 6–6 (Home: 3–3; Road: 3–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
5 July 3 @ Utah W 77–55 Jennifer Gillom (21) Toni Foster (9) Michele Timms (9) Delta Center 3–2
6 July 7 New York W 69–50 Bridget Pettis (25) Jennifer Gillom (13) Michele Timms (9) America West Arena 4–2
7 July 9 Houston W 66–53 Jennifer Gillom (20) Marlies Askamp (10) Umeki Webb (7) America West Arena 5–2
8 July 12 @ Utah L 51–52 Toni Foster (14) Toni Foster (7) Umeki Webb (3) Delta Center 5–3
9 July 13 @ Los Angeles W 57–56 Michele Timms (17) Umeki Webb (6) Michele Timms (3) Great Western Forum 6–3
10 July 16 Sacramento W 84–67 Jennifer Gillom (19) Bridget Pettis (7) Michele Timms (5) America West Arena 7–3
11 July 21 @ Sacramento W 70–57 Jennifer Gillom (19) Toni Foster (11) Michele Timms (7) ARCO Arena 8–3
12 July 22 Houston L 69–77 Michele Timms (24) Bridget Pettis (7) Bridget Pettis (4) America West Arena 8–4
13 July 17 Los Angeles L 83–86 (OT) Gillom
Pettis (17)		 Jennifer Gillom (9) Michele Timms (9) America West Arena 8–5
14 July 28 Cleveland L 64–76 Jennifer Gillom (19) Marlies Askamp (8) Tia Jackson (4) America West Arena 8–6
15 July 30 @ Charlotte L 67–68 Jennifer Gillom (16) Marlies Askamp (6) Michele Timms (4) Charlotte Coliseum 8–7
16 July 31 @ Cleveland L 67–79 Askamp
Gillom (12)		 Tia Jackson (8) Nancy Lieberman-Cline (4) Gund Arena 8–8
August: 8–4 (Home: 7–0; Road: 1–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
17 August 2 @ New York L 70–80 Michele Timms (20) Jennifer Gillom (9) Michele Timms (6) Madison Square Garden 8–9
18 August 4 Sacramento W 83–60 Bridget Pettis (23) Toni Foster (8) Askamp
Foster
Pettis
Timms (3)		 America West Arena 9–9
19 August 6 Utah W 78–46 Michele Timms (18) Askamp
Webb (9)		 Michele Timms (7) America West Arena 10–9
20 August 7 @ Houston L 70–74 Michele Timms (24) Foster
Timms (6)		 Michele Timms (4) The Summit 10–10
21 August 9 @ Charlotte L 59–79 Bridget Pettis (14) Toni Foster (7) Bridget Pettis (3) Charlotte Coliseum 10–11
22 August 12 New York W 77–67 Jennifer Gillom (23) Jennifer Gillom (8) Michele Timms (7) America West Arena 11–11
23 August 14 Cleveland W 61–55 Jennifer Gillom (19) Foster
Timms (7)		 Michele Timms (6) America West Arena 12–11
24 August 17 Utah W 71–63 Jennifer Gillom (15) Gillom
Timms (7)		 Michele Timms (5) America West Arena 13–11
25 August 18 @ Los Angeles L 66–75 Jennifer Gillom (18) Marlies Askamp (9) Michele Timms (4) Great Western Forum 13–12
26 August 20 @ Sacramento W 69–54 Bridget Pettis (18) Toni Foster (11) Umeki Webb (4) ARCO Arena 14–12
27 August 22 Charlotte W 78–63 Bridget Pettis (27) Jennifer Gillom (5) Michele Timms (8) America West Arena 15–12
28 August 24 Los Angeles W 73–68 (OT) Jennifer Gillom (29) Askamp
Pettis (9)		 Michele Timms (7) America West Arena 16–12
1997 season schedule

Playoffs
1997 playoff game log
Semifinal vs. New York Liberty
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Record
1 August 28 New York L 41–59 Askamp
Gillom (9)		 Jennifer Gillom (7) Pettis
Webb (2)		 America West Arena 0–1
1997 playoff schedule

Season standings
Western Conference W L PCT Conf. GB
Phoenix Mercury x1612.5719–3–
Los Angeles Sparks o1414.5008–42.0
Sacramento Monarchs o1018.3574–86.0
Utah Starzz o721.2503–99.0

Statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  TO  Turnovers per game
 PF  Fouls per game Team leader League leader

Regular Season
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Michele Timms 27 27 35.8 .336 .345 .760 3.7 5.0 2.6 0.1 12.1
Jennifer Gillom 28 28 31.2 .434 .313 .777 5.4 0.8 1.3 0.5 15.7
Bridget Pettis 28 28 30.1 .334 .306 .898 3.8 2.8 1.8 0.4 12.6
Umeki Webb 28 17 27.7 .297 0.67 .687 4.2 2.4 2.4 0.3 5.0
Toni Foster 28 28 26.3 .468 .167 .704 6.1 1.0 1.9 0.8 8.8
Marlies Askamp 28 1 18.5 .393 .000 .763 5.2 0.8 0.8 0.3 7.5
Mikiko Hagiwara 12 5 15.5 .256 .286 .500 1.2 0.8 0.2 0.0 2.8
Tia Jackson 26 6 12.3 .342 .375 .840 2.2 1.0 0.9 0.3 2.8
Nancy Lieberman-Cline 25 0 11.2 .325 .231 .800 1.3 1.6 0.6 0.1 2.6
Ryneldi Becenti 1 0 8.0 N/A N/A N/A 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0
Tara Williams 12 0 7.0 .410 .455 N/A 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 3.1
Monique Ambers 19 0 4.5 .444 N/A .400 1.1 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.7
Molly Tuter 3 0 1.0 .000 N/A N/A 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0


‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season

  • Toni Foster ranked ninth in the WNBA in total rebounds with 172
  • Toni Foster was ranked ninth in the WNBA in steals with 53.
  • Toni Foster tied for seventh in the WNBA in blocks with 21.
  • Toni Foster ranked seventh in the WNBA in Field Goal Percentage (.468)
  • Jennifer Gillom ranked tenth in the WNBA in Free Throw Pct with .777
  • Jennifer Gillom ranked fourth in the WNBA in field goals with 163
  • Jennifer Gillom ranked fifth in the WNBA in points with 440 points.
  • Jennifer Gillom ranked fifth in the WNBA in points per game with 15.7
  • Bridget Pettis was tied for tenth in the WNBA in steals with 49.
  • Michele Timms ranked third in the WNBA in minutes per game with 35.8
  • Michele Timms ranked second in the WNBA in steals with 71.
  • Michele Timms ranked third in the WNBA in assists with 137.
  • Chantel Tremitiere ranked fourth in the WNBA in assists with 135.
  • Umeki Webb ranked fourth in the WNBA in steals with 68.

Awards and honors
  • Jennifer Gillom, Center, All-WNBA Second Team [2]
  • Bridget Pettis: Led WNBA, Free Throw Percentage, .898 [3]
  • Michele Timms: Third in WNBA, 3-Pt Field Goals, 49

References
  1. "1997 Phoenix Mercury Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. "WNBA.com: Postseason Awards: 1997". www.wnba.com.
  3. "1997 WNBA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com". Basketball-Reference.com.
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